lyrics tuesday: Kylesa - Natures Predators

Streets lined with blood
Sleep no longer rests
Try to tune it out
This is no love generation
This is the town I live in
It is an American tension
Nature's predators live through death
Your neighbor killed big brother
Dim away the world
Whitewashed away
Waking symbols rest
Human interest repressed
We are not victims
We are someone's enemy
We all have to blame someone
Because fault is never personal
This is the town I live in
It is an American tension
Nature's predators live through death
Your neighbor killed big brother

Lyrics tuesday: Tom Waits- Table Top Joe

This song is insane. If I understand it correctly it's about a dude born with a head, a pair of arms, and that's it. That's a pretty disturbing mental image, but despite that, it always seems to put a smile on my face.

I knew one day
One, one, two, one, two, three
Well my mama didn’t want me
On the day I was born
I was born without a body
I got nothing but scorn
But I always loved music
All I had was my hands
I dreamed I'd be famous
And I’d work at The Sands
Singing, Tabletop Joe, Tabletop Joe
Now everyone will know
That I'm Tabletop Joe
I had trouble with the pedals
But I had a strong left hand
And I could play Stravinsky
On a baby grand
I said, ‘I’m gonna join the circus
Cause that’s where I belong’
So I went to Coney Island
I was singing this song
Tabletop Joe, Tabletop Joe
Now everyone knows
Yeah I'm Tabletop Joe
They gave me top billing
In the Dreamland show
I had my own orchestra
Starring Tabletop Joe
And the man without a body
Proved everyone wrong
I was rich and I was famous
I was where I belonged, yeah
Tabletop Joe, Tabletop Joe
Now everyone knows, yeah
Tabletop Joe

Crit violence

From what I gather there was a little of this going on at crit on Thursday.



This Thursday had been the first in a little while I didn't show up to, despite the fact that I enjoy crits about as much as I enjoy paper cuts on my frenulum, and wouldnt you know this goes on without me. Now based on the responses I've seen I would say that the uniform consensus view is that violence is abhorrent and is savage and a poor way to solve problems. Those who know me will probably not be surprised when I say that my opinion is, violence is abhorrent, savage and unfortunately sometimes it's the best way solve problems. Look, I've been in my fare share of violent altercations, and I can not think of one that didn't settle things once and for all after, as long as it was a one on one situation. I will say I think it's super funny that all these people are surprised and shocked and appalled that this kind of violence could happen at what is commonly referred to as a gentleman's sport. They're like those people that are neighbors with the dude that climbs up a clock tower and shoots 15 people; "I never would have thought he was capable of that...". Let me be the first to say, I saw it coming a long ways off. The one thing that I could see that goes well out of this would be, maybe people will take riding a fucking bike in a circle a little less serious.

One person who witnessed the account said that one guy, we'll call him Derrick, was tired of the other guy, we'll call him random duchebag and his overly aggressive tactics, and when random duchebag had forced Derrick into the gutter one time to many, words we're exchanged that led to the two of them dismounting. If this is in fact how it went down, let me just make my position on the matter clear: it is at this point you have agreed to non-diplomatic conflict resolution. We're no longer talking about bike racing. Now I can't think of anything more pathetic that 2 dudes duking it out in full spandex and in (it gives me idiot shivers at how ill equipped they are) cycling shoes. I don't care if one dude slipped getting off the bike, I don't care if one dude slipped throwing a punch, I don't care if they both made out like cooped up dogs in heat. When you stopped the bike, you agreed to non diplomatic conflict resolution. We're not talking about bike racing any more. If you prefer diplomacy or bike racing when somebody keeps putting you into the curb, you sit in and sit up until after the last lap and you have a conversation like the peaceful civilized asshole everybody has come to know and love. When you decide you are going to let your inner primate take over, you better jump the fuck in with both feet.

Don't get fooled into thinking I've won every fight I've been in. I've gotten housed lotsa times. Lots. But after it's over I collect my dignity and what's left of my teeth and I go the fuck home. What I don't do is call the police and snitch. A snitch is far lower in my opinion than somebody who settles things with his fists.

Now, conversely, if I hit a dude and he hits the ground, the fights over. That's it. Done. If you kick a dude while he's down or you punch a dude on the ground, you're either embarrassed because you didn't knock him out cold (you punch like a rank amateur or you did it wearing cycling shoes) or you're a bully. Now, on my echelon of scum, I place bully just below snitch making him the lowest of the low. Nothing is lower than a bully.

And finally, if I'm a victim of bullying I would hope my friends, even the ones that dress in superhero outfits and helmets and sunglasses that make them look like robot dinosaurs, would step in and peel that piece of shit off me so we can peel off our outrageously expensive yet good for nothing but riding bikes shoes and handle things like men sometimes do.

Without further ado I'll let Michael Madsen say it better than I ever could:


"You kids shouldn't play so rough. Somebody's gonna start crying..."

Lyrics Tuesday: Yob-Burning the Altar

special "let's hope your on pills or something" edition of lyrics tuesday...



Burning eyes brim with tears
Heavy heart clenched like a fist
Grasping hope with hands in flames
Burning ashes
Burning to the core

Wretched fools suffer fate
In worlds that they made
Sand slipping through fingers
Wisdom in decay

Burning the altar
Ashes billow across the sky
Burning the altar
Burning the altar

The ignorant rule the weak
With iron law and wrathful deeds
Eyes within eyes
All seeing
All mass delusion
Trumpets to the fall

Hollow psalms
The drums of war
Beating the stretched skin of the fallen
Redirect the vision within now
While the world ends

The hardest part...

I have purchased 2 custom bicycle frames in my relatively short time of post-cycle evolutionary re-invention. My first bike was a waltworks road bike, and it was (is) awesome. Anybody who has a 10 minute convo with me about bikes knows I prefer steel. It rules as far as longevity. If you pity my choice of a weighty material, I pity your buying into slavery to commercial ridiculousness. At any rate, I coasted about 8 feet post initial build on that bike, and I would imagine I had a look on my face similar to the one Soren made when I snuck him a fingertip of maple syrup for the first time. My mind, like his was freaking blown. I never looked back after that. I worked for specialized in a small capacity last summer just as I'll be doing this summer as a wrench at their dealer event. I was drawn in by the concept of a shiny new hardtail, hanging up my full suspension xc bike days, via a deal from specialized inside sales rep and rat tail sporting all in all Latin bike pimp Juan Diaz. I rode it about a month before I wanted to trade it for a steel bike with a non spaceship geometry and a slightly more sensible fork. At that time walt was clocking a close to 7 month waiting period for a frame, and I wanted to try my hand with someone else's skillz. Enter this dude:



well maybe not him exactly, but in my, and the high holy priest of misery's opinion, he's the custom bike version. Opinionated, skilled, absent minded and in a class by himself: Paul Sadoff. I sold my s-works frame and forwarded said funds to rock lobster custom bikes. On groundhogs day I began talks with Paul. I was immediately excited about him building my new whip. He asked where I was from and told me "oh yeah, Redlands...I used to drive thru there on my way to do drugs...". I was pumped. Wait time was a major factor, as the 5.5 months I had to wait for my waltworks was enough to piss off the good humor man. I dunno how people handle richard sachs and people like him who have some insane 6 year waiting period. When he called to finalize the design work I would have to have a 30 minute "where the fuck do you get off..." conversation before I could possibly move onto seat tube angles. At any rate, Paul told me it was 3 or 4 months with an outside possibility of slightly more. He said he's never had a wait of more than 6 months, and is somewhat far from his record as far as amount of orders written. Also, he somewhat begrudgingly built a bar/stem for me that would match the bike, which is a request I have a feeling walt would have outrightly denied. With walt, he would just say "i dont do that." to my rediculous requests, and i got a great frame because of it. He wouldn't entertain my sophomoric first custom experience. With paul, he would say "uuuuuuuh...." to my far less rediculous requests, and with a small amount of cajoling, i got a little more customized experience, without painting myself into a corner with some wierd fad mod that would ruin the longevity of the frame.

I would say that the waiting is truly the hardest part, as stated by some no talent ass-clown, who shared the stage with Roy Orbison from time to time. The wait with waltworks was made worse by a "watched pot never boils" waiting list that he posts online. The wait with my rock lobster was made worse by the fact that he had my frame completed in 3.25 months, bar/stem completed in 3.75 (photo evidence of these items was the worst) and now at 4.25 months the frame and cockpit are floating in a purgatory sea of powdercoating/shipping. It's my fault for being such a cantankerous impatient asshole that the wait is making me sprout a tumor, but ive been riding my full squish doom carriage for the last 3 months exclusively, and while that bike is fun, I'm ready for something a little more nimble and, most importantly, made especially for me so I feel like the Lords unique and special snowflake, except, you know, on a bike.

lyrics tuesday- Acid King 2-Wheeled nation

its bike month. Enjoy.


Ride away from falling ground
Ride away from the big black cloud
Ride away until the day comes
That we all live in a 2 wheel nation

Ride away from noise and sound
Ride away from the life that's now
Ride away until the day comes
That we all live in a 2 wheel nation

Lyrics Tuesday- SSD: Boiling Point

I think i am going to try and do a weekly thing on this here blog. I am going to post lyrics to a song that has been re-accuring in my mind over the last week. Sometimes i will have profound meanings behind these lyrics, and sometimes it will just be something that has been running thru my head non-stop. I think this is more of the latter than the former.


I've kept it bottled up for years
Instead of fighting or shedding tears
Now it's time to let go
My boiling point's about to show
I don't know if I'll lose control
Of my mind, my body, or soul
Boiling Point
Boiling Over
Boiling Point
Now it's over

Death to false metal pt. 2.

http://rocklobstershop.blogspot.com/2011/04/steel-26-wheel-mtb-frame-for-so-cal.html

Click on the link for the straight shizzle. You don't want to click, it's cool, I'll sum it up for ya. My bike>your bike.

Redlands Bike Classic Swiss Style Wrench Support: Day 2

Living in southern california, if you race bikes, we get an extra certainty among the ones everybody else gets. Death, Taxes, and of course, Criteriums.

I had to skip out of the second day of the bike classic, Stage 1 the Beaumont Circuit, due to my getting news of the advent of the coming apocalypse, or, my son being born. Dr. said the baby is coming but not for a good week, maybe two, so we may have to coax the harbinger of the end along a little bit. I'm certain there'll be more on that soon...

At any rate, day 2 for me was the Crit. Pretty simple, stand in the wheel pit and look for frantic racers or an arm indicating something was wrong with their rig, OR, a third option i had not really thought about, which was naive due to me racing more than a fair share of crits, crashes. The womens race went off without anything going wrong for a good while. Couple of little scrape type craches, but nothing too bad. One girl had twisted her shifter a little bit in a crash, but ultimately was fine. Pretty sure everybody finished who had the physical ability.

Then, the guys race. The first dude that coasted in at the beginning of the first lap indicated he had a front flat. Bart, being smarter than him on what i'm sure amounted to about 2 hours of sleep the night before changed the rear, because it was in fact the rear that was flat. I asked bart how he was so sure without even checking, then, without even touching me, he choked me from across the room and told me he found my lack of faith distrubing. The second guy that went down asked a medic to tape him up right quick. The medic was NOT prepared. He wrapped him up but didnt have scissors so was trying to tear the guaze. After a little while and while i was going thru his shifting and making sure his rig had survived the scrape. It was good to go thank heavens. I saw how quick Bart put a twisted bike back together and i was a little unsure of my abilities. Then came the snags. Snag number 1: when the race commissar came over she instructed me i had to hold him, which was fine, except he was holding himself up on the fence by an area that was other than the area indicated by bart to push the dudes in. No biggie i would just hold him right there. Official didnt seem to care, so why should i? Snag number 2: He starts barking at me to hold him more to the left. Thankfully i had sense enough not to just to what we said because A) the peloton was moving to the right, so that was dumb, and B) we were on the camber of the gutter, so it gave him a false feeling of leaning to the right. I just ignored him, i was holding him straight. Snag number 3: the official didn't give me instructions on when to push him out, and to be truthful, i was sort of waiting on feeling him take of, then pushing. Well, as soon as the chase came after the break, like, as soon as rider number one from the chase was in sight, secretariat starts to bolt. The official pointed and yelled for him to stop for s second, then take off, and he did. Then she lays into me saying not to push him out til instructed, to which i replied, "there was no push, he just...went..." She apologized and proceeded to lay into the rider's team manager. Then, i saw a guy indacate on his way up to the Lord's corner on olive and cajon he had a flat. He came around, i told Bart. Bart told me to take it, and the proceeded to heckle me the entire time. At least it went off without a hitch, he was way cooler than seabicuit before him. Also, he was an aussie, who while flinty, chatty, and from a country conceived by criminals, are really cool people. I have yet to find an exception.

Then the biggest deal of the day came. BIG crash in the final turn of the final lap. Dude who was second wheel goot pushed into the fence and a bunch of the people who were fighting for wheels went down. It was one of those crashes where there was a bunch of gnarled twisted bodies and then every once in a while you'd see a rear wheel pop straight up in the air if the blob of bodies sucked in another rider. It even seemed like Bart lost his cool a teency weency as he came out of the booth and was yelling "rider down" and motioning like a 3rd base coach telling a runner to slide. Nothing to support there though, so other than a mild cleanup and a short come to jesus speech by bart about the particulars for the next day, that was all there was to it.

Redlands bike classic Swiss style wrench support: day 1

Show up around 6 he says. That wakes me up (and I use this term as loose as possible) at 5:25. If I wake up early for a ride, I generally allow for about 30 minutes to get something in my belly and slip into my superhero outfit that I usually put out the night before. This morning it would seem is a little less labor intensive, however I did need to robocop some poor woman's expensive carbon bike yesterday, as chronicled here in her blog, so I figured I would give myself 10 minutes less at 5:20 to insure against any would be curveballs.

I roll in promptly at 6, lock up my whip due to the recent crime spree in Redlands, and due to the fact that the idiot that is now facing felony charges for stealing my somewhat suped-up commuting turd and I crossed paths notoriously not even a week ago. Now, on to what would normally be an item that trumps all others at this God forsaken hour: Coffee.

I visit the good people at Greater Good coffee (<---- see what I did there? It's not just a clever name!). Kris and her crew make me an iced coffee, which, by the way IS the best in town, as far as iced coffee goes. For everything else, Stell is still tough to beat. At any rate even though they were closed, they helped me out with my am fix.

Back to the start line, i sat waiting for somebody to tell me what to do, if i was doing something other than fix bikes. And if I was to fix bikes, i was somewhat un prepared. Limited tools, no stand, no solvents. At some point Scott Tickmeyer offers his truck to go beef up my tech setup, namely, get my stand. I do so. When I get back Tom Belaszka shows up with wheels and other support items. I go thru a girl's front shifting, which is throwing her chain outboard due in part to a bent derailleur cage. After some brief cave-man adjustments and an even brief-er come to Jesus conversation about finding a new derailleur, she was ready(ish). Then the best thing all weekend happened.

Bart miller to the rescue. To those who don't know, Bart is the man. USA cycling mechanic, former euro racer, all around bad ass MC. And with him, he brought his bad ass MC tool kit. More fairly shot girls rigs needed adjusting, the crowned princess of which was a girl who complained of being un able to shift into higher gear with her rear shifter. I checked it out, sure as day, just as she described. Bart was thinking it was the shifter, I was thinking cable, both of which would be and is equally plausible. Upon looking at the cable access while Bart shifted, i noticed the cable head stick out as he attempted to shift into higher gear, which confirmed it was cable. Bart checks the rear as i check the front portion of cable and housing, and bang, there it is. I ask her when she installed the aero-bars, to which she replied the night before. She had clamped the clip on bars around her shifting cable housing which prevented the cable from un-spooling and releasing the the derailleur further outboard. She felt bad. I didn't. I've seen normal people make similar mistakes, the REAL tragedy was this girl who somebody deemed talented enough to pay for her bike skills didn't have the means or desire (hopefully the latter) to hire somebody to make sure she had a proper running bike, which is somewhat important for a stage racer. Sucks. From then on it was tweeking people's bikes to fit the jig for aerodynamic standards and legality. The most difficult adjustment was a rider's clip on aero bars which extended him too far into a superman type position (not legal). From what the gentleman said, this particular set of aero bars were praised for their ease of adjustablity. What's true is they had many options of adjustability, but I assure you ease did not enter into any of the options. I won't bad mouth the company here, so if anybody wants to know what brand they were, lemme know, I'll give you the 411, and even adjust them for you, as after this ordeal, I have a black belt in adjusting them. It took me and Bart as a combo about 45 minutes to adjust those bastards. The racer who they belonged to assured me after that that was world record time compared to his installation time. Kind of a relief.

That pretty much sums it up for that day. I will say the most interesting part of the whole ordeal was that women were pumped on any help they got and dudes basically looked over both shoulders to see if their techs were looking to ask for a 5mm wrench or us to pump up their tires to an unreasonable pressure. One group with zero support, one group with more than they could handle. Interesting, huh?

Beer is for breakfast around here...

Pro women bike racers get the freakin' shaft from a mechanical standpoint. Every year droves of femme-powerhouses line up with the most hosed down death-traps to ever grace the peloton. A couple of years ago a girl came in with a headset issue. I literally don't know how she got it to the bike shop without breaking the frame. They were drop in campy style bearings, and the preload was SO loose, that i think the bearings might have been shook loose from their in frame races. No kidding. Last year due to some savvy negotiating by a mechanic, i glued about 8 sets of tubulars for a women's team, and the glue job that had been done previously, was insane. The ease of removal of said tires reminded me of this little ditty.
(sorry for the pause for corporate mind raping)

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Pulling Teeth
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

I BARELY pulled. Every year they are so appreciative. So appreciative that they bring bottle after bottle, case after case, growler after growler of everybody's favorite liquid: Beer.

Now, i know what you're thinking; 10 out of 9 mechanics love to receive an oat soda in return for for their mechanical prowess. Now that is pre-supposing that a mechanic likes the taste of beer. Now on that, i cannot argue, as i have yet to find an exception to the rule, including yours truly. However, being as if the taste of beer is accompanied by alcohol, it unleashes a ferrous, stark-raving animal that lurks in a black, normally ignored corner of my otherwise shiny and happy soul, i think everybody would agree it is best to let well enough alone, and just leave me dry. I'm a fast and loose unruly asshole as it is, you wanna add alcohol to that equation? That's what i thought.

So here's the thing, i'm thinking i wanna start making the standard bartering chip for bike mechanic's expertise something that i have been thinking is long overdue to get big among our ranks: Heroin.

Now hear me out. Everybody drinks beer. Especially bike mechanics. Even those who end up punting the job and send someone careening into the curb because the silicone polish on their braking surface actually made them accelerate when they applied the brakes. Even that dude gets beer. I seen it happen. So if i do an extra special job on your rig and you end up with a bucket of dates to show for your 25th lap sprint preem, wouldn't you agree i deserve something with a little more kick? Lou Reed seemed to enjoy the stuff immensely, and i am a huge Lou Reed fan.

Heroin bike racers, heroin. Where are you supposed to get ahold of this stuff? Your problem, not mine. My problem is "Perfect Day" on repeat with what i would imagine amounts to about a tenth of the potential understanding for the melody and lyrics. On heroin that song blows my mind. Guarantee it. Having said that, here's a glimpse of what you'd have on your hands if i had about a half a beer in my tummy. What can i say? I'm a cheap date.

Alright alright alright

Pulled into goleta at 8-ish, went to dinner at outback, ready as I'm gonna be for the 100 miles tomorrow, headed for bed with dazed and confused playing in the background. Good times to follow, pics to prove it too.

Don't Believe the Hype..

About a month ago i decided i was done with the carbon spaceship bikes. Its cool that they're light, but in the end i'm a classic over plastic kind of guy.

Decided to sell the stumpy frame and fork; i first consulted craigslist, thinking i should ask for an amount higher for all the would be lo-ballers out there. Just after i decided to go ahead and list it on fleabay. Since paypal sho' do take a bite, i decided to list it for 100 more than i listed it on craigslist. Within 2 hours i had a bid.

So pumped.

That will more than pay for my new custom Rock Lobster as well as a sweet ass top-of-the-line Fox fork. So pumped. Who knows what its gonna end up going for? More than i was expecting.

To explain the title of the post, i was thinking, "Who in god's name is going to want a 26" hardtail for what i'm asking with all this 29er hype we have going?" Apparently, it was all for naught, thus the title of the post....

Palm Springs touring

I just sort of thought that tour of ps would be lames ville, but I hadn't even analyzed WHY. Turns out all the reasonsi thought itd be dumb were all the reasons it'd be cool.

I was talked into going by about 9 different people who just assumed I was going, asking if I was going. The final conjecture came from new friend but familiar face John. He made it sound the runners off all those that asked, so I said sure, I'd go with him. We didn't even get down there til like 9 and we only did about 60 miles of it which I assume was the metric loop. What a great ride. It was cool to see all the people out on differing rigs of all shapes and sizes just enjoying the pristine weather and far better than average view. We had a blast. The highlights include me passing a dude who was wearing a Belgian nationals champion jersey and I huffed "hup, hup!" at him to which he replied "Hup! Hup!", also we saw dudes on razor scooters with a 700c wheel on the front (perhaps it was 650c), and we got called motherfuckers in spanish by dudes who we pulled along like a freight train engine and never once put their face into the wind. Good times. It was super encouraging and made us feel super fast to be passing so many folks. In the end that was our downfall as we were both digging our tongues out of our spokes. I actually ended up with a little bit of a suntan! Good times for sure. Already planning on doing some more rides like that, cuz it was a blast.

I...I...I just get so pumped....

http://rocklobstershop.blogspot.com/2011/02/unofficial-25th-anniversary-mtb-frame.html

Click on the link if you're a bike person and the sit down and get comfy for some bike ranting....


Ok, first things first, if you said the words, "I wonder how much it weighs...?". Or "won't that be a little heavy" or a similar phrase, please raise your right hand. Now, ball that hand up as tight as you can and punch yourself in the face. And I mean hard. Like you are collecting rent for some mafia don.

Point #1: Who cares?
Point #2: if you are a racer and the difference between winning and losing a race is 2 or so lbs, maybe do an extra interval during your no doubt grueling training regiment, and voila, difference nullified. Or you can remove a half a pound from your wheel set up and voila, difference MORE than nullified. Or you can make a right turn right off of a cliff, and voila, difference nullified.
Point #3: picture two people at the bottom of a the fire road at crafton. Lets say these 2 people are me and the fire marshal of the funless firehouse, Matt Freeman. It's a balls out race to the top. Matt's gonna win right? For sure, because after all, the dude hates fun. Freeman and I ride fairly similar geometry bike, so just for yucks, let's switch bikes and do it again. Who do you think is gonna win. If you think it's me, you're taking crazy pills. it's not the bike. Like, ever. And if it is, it's a loss i can live with knowing I came that close to winning on a WAY cooler bike.
Point #4: Next year when you have a hairline crack in your bb, or your head tube, or you have to have the weight savings of a press in bb x43+, you're getting a new frame. Then, when that one cracks or some other lame component is offered you have to have, lather rinse repeat. See a pattern developing? While you're experiencing the wrath of the math, I'm on the same frame. Classic staying power is priceless.
Point #5: Made in America, by a dude who has literally been building frames as long as I've been breathing.
Point #6: At the end of the day, we're talking about a bike ride. I highly doubt I need to be enforced upon the latest and greatest in aerospace technology on A FRICKIN BICYCLE!!

Do yourself a favor, consciously try and have a good helping of fun next time you ride a bike. Especially if you can't recall the last ride that was in fact fun.

Pain

... Is normally temporary, but my leg hurts worse than when I fell over yesterday. Except when I ride a bike, which is weird. I hope it's not broken.

Project Bike Donkey goes offroad.

Today i took the remedy up to crafton. I don't have any sweet GPS content, cuz i left my garmin at home. Let me just say this. Lugging a 30lb 6" travel bike uphill is SO much harder and less fun than a hardtail.

Coming Downhill however was a different story. That was a blast.

At any rate, can't help but think back to stories i've heard about tinker training with a backpack full of rocks, so i have to think that doing all the fire road and the little trail up to Zanja Peak on that bike will fit into my climbing scheme nicely. Tomorrow will be on the road though, training properly.

Huckin'

I tried full suspension for a little while. It was fun, i just couldn't wrap my head around it for race or fast pace riding. Ditched it. Now, i think fast paced riding has its pace, and i got the bike for it, to the t. But, now i want to have a little more fun. Have a little more leisure time on the bike. i want to jump a bike off a house. What to do, what to do....? I know, i'll get ahold of my favorite surrogate uncle Greg, see what he can set me up with....




BO OO OO M !!

Imma go jump my bike off of.... the world. It's funny, we have full blown 8" travel DH bikes at the shop, and i've ridden ones i work on around to make sure they aren't gonna explode on the patron's next ride, and honestly, going from riding a bike with not quite 4" of front suspension only to this bike. It might as well be 90" of travel man. It's SO rad. Hopefully i live to make another post.

Project Bike Donkey II

So today i just decided to go climb. I had about 2 hours to ride, so i figured i'd just go up hwy 38 til i saw 1:30 on the clock, then i'd come back. I timed it a little sort, as it turns out it took me 2:15 or so. Not so bad for somebody that sucks at climbing. I got the link below in case you give a crap.



Prolly go out with the CVV dudes tomorrow. Their ride tends to be pretty fun/not a total popestomper. Then i'll be digging a sweet ass pump track for Ryder, the the Ayatollah of Agony-a's son. How Ryder talked him into such a fun project is beyond me. Must have been trish's idea.

It's only saturday evening and i have MANY sweet movies viewed. Here's the list so far:

Blow-out: Awesome. Can see why this is a Tarantino fave. How did Travolta go from Saturday Night Fever to Look Who's Talking to Pulp Fiction to Wild Hogs?

Deathrace 2000: I may or may not be getting a tattoo of the flag from the movie. Man, if the year 2000 would have turned out like Corman said, it would RULE!

Cobra: My dad wouldn't let me watch it as a kid. I've wanted to ever since. Prettyyyyy bad.

The Gauntlet: Clint Eastwood seldom disappoints. Especially as a shady cop. The shootout scene at the end.....SUPERB.

I think we're about to watch raising arizona in french, and i'm damn sure watching Machete before the weekend is over. Wife got it for me cuz she rules/we aren't raising kids to watch steel magnolias.

Project Bike Donkey -or- base mileage can be fun

So i went out and did my climbing intervals on thursday for Project Bike Donkey. I'm either doing it really right, or really wrong. I started by doing all the way up sunnyside from cypress, then i did arroyo (that hill is a real rabbi slapper if you've never tried it), then i did serpentine, then a little interval after you get in the clear after alessandro, then the latter half of the walled section on sunset. I finished up, the whole endeavor took a shade over an hour on account of my easy spin in non-interval sections. This all took place shortly after Jason "wildbeard" Reynolds bought ordered pizza for the shop. So when i got back, there was free pizza waiting for me. Now, i realize that pizza ia not the keystone to a healthy diet, but i didn't know it would put it's thumb 4 inches in my ear like this. For the rest of the day i felt like my sould weighed an extra 8 pounds and was trying to work its way out of my skin like this:



Everybody told me what warmed over whipped crap i looked like for the rest of the day. I felt it.

Next day i just did a little easy spinning.

Today, i went to AJ's house, by bike. Prolly just a smidge over 70 miles as i left the computer off accidentally for some of it, but i did it in a little under 4 hours. Not bad. i did it on halloween and it took me 5 but i had a backpack, and there was a lot of lag waiting for flats. It's a good little ride! If Aj were friends with any of my bike friends, i would invite some of them because the whole thing is pretty fun. Its like a 4 hour ride with a single climbing interval that is pretty strenuous going over anaheim hills on this deaconpuncher of a street called serrano. This time serrano really didn't seem so bad, so i guess the intervals are working. I'm also in a little better shape than i was at halloween and i didn't have a backpack. here's a the ride info in case you give a rats ass.